Tora, Tora, Burning Bright
by TwiliteTGRgrl
Summary: How does Yoruichi turn into a cat? When Ichigo mysteriously disappears, can Rukia solve the riddles before it's too late? What is the new war? AND WHAT THE HECK DOES A TIGER HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING! some Ichiruki and Orishida R&R! DARN YOU! Some lang.


**Tora, Tora, Burning Bright**

**Disclaimer: Tite-sensei is coming to town!! Oh baby!! He owns all that is awesome not me! :3**

**A/N: I'm horrible for not writing Bleach fics in such a long time. Eyesh has come into my life and made me obsessed! Hehe! Well I'm taking a different route than I usually do. I'm going to stop writing sappy lovie dovie crap and quit writing in OOC amusement style. I hope this is somewhat less OOC…**

**Random Song of Mo: Eye of the Tiger By Survivor**

* * *

Slinking lithely through the dank, muddied alleys slick with new- fallen rain, the black feline knew of only one destination. Rivulets of water plastered her velvety fur to her sides, whiskers heavy with droplets and eyes brimming with determination, Yoruichi felt a sense of urgency to reach the human-invisible shop with quick pawsteps. After dodging speeding cars and skirting stray dogs, she clung to shadows as she approached the looming hidden structure that had quickly become the sanctuary of laughter, good spirits, and welcoming friendship even during the most serious of occasions.

She'd been in 'hiding' for so long before she had come here to visit her old friend in the beginning. That green-capped man instantly welcomed her and resumed their burning companionship that had blossomed back in the old days when they built that secret training area and fought together. Before she came to him with some troubling news and not long after Ichigo came into the drama. That whole time she was away while her best friend Kisuke Urahara took in the twosome Jinta and Ururu, she had in fact been searching for answers, scrounging facts, fighting for information. All those years ago, spying like a sneaky cat for scraps of data, and in one turn of events after another, Isshin's only son had helped to attest the sinister behind rectangular-wood-framed eyeglasses and the lies written in handmade notes.

It was sad, Yoruichi knew, that nearly every time she ran up these creaky steps to her true comrade's exiled abode, she always seemed to be the messenger of bad news. By now she had become good at guessing his reactions now. His playful, mischievous manner would instantly vanish like her inky form to the human world as she entered the threshold through the back door. His eyes would lose their brightness and would gain a hard focus that comes with years of scientific challenge.

"Yoruichi! My dear Yoruichi, welcome welcome!" He fanned the wet furry creature inside, eyes bright under the shade from the brim of his hat. Absurd delight is the name of his usual behavior yet the feline could see right through to the true serious nature of the shop owner. A raven-haired girl stopped her sweeping in the corner to bob a shy greeting, the red-head boy scowling at the interruption of teasing, and Tessai forever moving cardboard boxes of mystery merchandise paused to make polite pleasantries before scolding the fiery tempered boy from his bullying.

"I shall fetch us some tea for our guest. It must be very chilly out there today." The giant man said retying his apron.

"No need Tessai." Yoruichi objected lightly. "I won't be here long."

Little Ururu put her broom aside piping softly. "I-I'll go bring some towels for Miss Yoruichi." The cat merely nodded and padded over to the table where business was to be discussed.

With robes sighing as he plopped down in front of his table, Urahara kept his face curious yet expectant. Ururu gently placed a towel around the cat and exited the room.

"And to what do I own this brief pleasure Yoruichi?" He fanned his face silently.

"You know as well as I do what I'm here to discuss Kisuke."

A ghost of smile played on his lips as he lowered his hat and brought his fan closer to his face, blonde hair framing shadowed unreadable eyes. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I need Ichigo." The cat narrowed her golden eyes. "Trouble has arisen once again."

Urahara exhaled, smiling and slumped onto his side fanning wildly as was his façade. "Ahh!! So it's finally time for Kurosaki to join in on this secret little war?"

His friend was washing her paws as way of answering. "We need his strength. I'm afraid only he can help us now, although I honestly don't know if this plan is doable."

"Hmm. I'd say…" Urahara clapped his fan closed and tapped it on his chin in thought. "…the plan of which you are referring to…is definitely within Ichigo's grasp." He looked up, light from the ceiling sweeping away the shadows hiding across his brow and away from his hard eyes. "If anyone…I know that Ichigo can succeed."

"Hmm…"

"He's strength surprised us before, you know." He watched her from the corner of his eyes. "First with Miss Kuchiki's foiled execution, then with Aizen."

"Hmm… but can he do it? Without anyone knowing?" Her golden eyes were thoughtful.

Urahara pulled off his hat and placed it on the table with a weary sigh. "It'll be tough, what with his friends being so close and Rukia taking residence in his household…but he can do it. I'm sure of it."

Yoruichi stared up at the ceiling. "But we don't have a choice."

* * *

Shafts of light peeped through his curtain-less window, bathing the messy room with a blinding light. A muted groan came from beneath a mountain of covers and a drowsy hand felt around his night-table, grouping about for his clock. The large callused hand, not succeeding in its search grew more wild, a voice cursing groggily. Suddenly his fingertips felt something foreign and thin. He sat up, strawberry-blonde hair ruffled and sleepy eyes alarmed. The foreign object was an envelope.

Slightly more awake now and very much curious, the youth plucked the paper off the nightstand with a certain weariness. Last time he had discovered an envelope in his room was all very crisp in his mind. But fortunately as he opened it up and pulled the letter out, the boy didn't see any horribly childlike depictions anywhere in the note. Instead of seeing bunnies and a secret coded run away message, the blonde read something that would drastically change his plans of a lazy weekend. Indefinitely. He gulped and started packing. No choice. Then wrote a note of his own. _Damn! Why me?! _He growled.

* * *

"IIIIIICCCCCCHHHHHIIIIIIGGGGGGOOOOOO!! MY SON COME AND CELEBRATE A NEW DAY EARLY WITH YOUR PAPA!!"Finding no victim in the area, Isshin Kurosaki puzzledly looked around his son's room and immediately sensed the lingering spiritual pressure, a familiar one other than his son's. He understood and kept up his act post haste. "Oh that little son of mine has grown up and decided to sneak out of the house maybe for some girls and is most likely-"

"Daddy please stop yelling." A perky Yuzu chirped from the kitchen. "Let Ichi-nii sleep in a little bit. I noticed he's been looking more tired lately."

"Well maybe that explains why he's isn't here sweetie because our beloved Ichigo has flown the coop today and is probably with a girl right at this very instant doing who knows what and-"

Interrupted once again by Karin before the perverted father could continue, the tomboyish twin picked at her cereal. "So Ichi-nii isn't here huh?"

Isshin ran to the poster of his wife crying loudly, "OH DEAREST MASAKI OUR SON HAS GROWN INTO A MAN!"

Yuzu placed some more breakfast items on the table ignoring her father's lunacy. Rukia came in wearing a neat yellow sundress, her hair bushed till it shown. "Rukia-nee do you know where Ichigo is?"

And Rukia hadn't the slightest clue. But she grinned instead and said cheerfully, hiding her worry, "Oh Ichigo left a note saying he would be going to Chad's for awhile to finish up a project."

"Oh that makes sense! He wouldn't usually go anywhere without telling you Rukia-nee." Rukia smiled fakely as she munched on her breakfast, worry tearing through her now. "Yes. He wouldn't." The whole Vizards training thing echoed in her head. Hadn't he learned?!

Just before she had come down to the table she immediately sensed that Ichigo was not here and she dashed into his room only to find it ransacked, more messy than usual as if he had left in a hurry. Then she saw a note on his desk, written in his neat print.

_**Don't worry. I'll be back soon.**_

___**Ichigo**_

No locations, no specifics, only 'don't worry'. Oh she was definitely worried now! And the vague word of 'soon' wasn't exactly gratifying. That baka was sooo gonna get it when he got back from where ever he had gone! Then thunderstruck by an idea she searched the bedroom for the annoying stuffed tenant. Kon might know where he had gone! Digging hurriedly through his drawers and in the closet for the stuffed konpaktu, Rukia thought about where the heck the sixteen-year-old would hide… AHA! She quickly darted into the bathroom. Sure enough…duck tape was on the other side of the lavatory.

But Kon wasn't back there as she'd thought. Instead, she found a piece of paper was taped in the same exact spot as where she'd taped the annoying thing when she'd left.

_**Idiot. Why the heck would I put him in here?! That's just nasty. Also I don't have any more air freshener since that incident it was so smelly. Look under the bed you baka! That's so obvious. Duh!**_

The shinigami seethed. _How dare he mock her brilliant planning skills! And when did he have time for this?! (heard this before)_

She darted back into his messy room and groped about under his bed until…yes! A soft SQUEEK could be heard and something plushy squirmed under her touch. She yanked hard until she ripped Kon out from under his bed. After successfully (and not gently) pulling the remaining tape from over the lion's mouth, he let out a mournful yelp of pain, and flopped about like a fish. "EEAAHH!! WHY THE HELL DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!"

Rukia pinned the thing down to shut him up. "Did he say where he's going?" Her voice gave away her frustration and concern.

Kon just blinked up at her before replying. "No. He just grabbed me and told me mean things about if I don't shut how he'll have to-"

"So he just left without saying anything…" The konpaktu trailed off sensing the raven-haired woman was no longer listening. Rukia clenched her small delicate hands into hard fists. "Well at least…that means…he wasn't kidnapped or…anything like that." But the stuffed lion understood what she was really saying.

_Why? Why would he make everyone worry? _She quietly left the room to get ready for breakfast. She would just go on to the school and see if anyone there knew anything on that fools whereabouts.

**

* * *

**

Lunch At Karakura High…

The question hovered around the somber group like a black cloud. "Where is Ichigo?"

Rukia looked at the usual silent giant in surprise. His voice was anxious. "Well…I'm sure he's off doing something stupid." She didn't bother using her fake enthusiasm. Everyone knew the secrets about her and Ichigo being shinigamis anyways.

"Miss Rukia?" Everyone gathered on the roof turned to the sudden speaker. Ishida pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose. "Did you check with Urahara yet?"

Rukia shook her head. "Not yet. But I…" Her blue eyes looked thoughtful. "I have a feeling he wouldn't tell me even if he knew."

Orihime put her chopsticks down with a confident smile. "Well then, we'll just have to trust that Kurosaki-kun is fine and that he doesn't want us to worry!" She raised her fist to emphasize her certainty, but her smile faltered shortly. "Where ever he is."

* * *

Karin sighed frustrated as she kicked stones on the way home from school. Yuzu hummed blissfully a few steps behind her twin, unaware of her sister's discomfort while she thought of what to make for dinner tonight. The tomboyish girl knew that her brother was MIA. She knew it immediately when she got up in the morning, and her suspicions were immediately confirmed when Rukia-nee sat down to eat cereal. There was a tense furrow to the older girl's mood. Her body was stiff, as if uneasy.

The elder twin was sharp in picking up those hidden signals. She always was and always will be. She lived with Ichigo didn't she? She knew how to use her unique and very much acute senses to pick up the real story, to understand situations when people didn't like to talk. (Ichigo)

So then…where did her brother run off to that made Rukia uneasy? The last time he did that, she knew he was very disturbed and preoccupied with something that made him behave rashly and without reason that even Rukia-nee couldn't tame. When Rukia came back from her search, she was satisfied because she knew all along what was bothering him then, she just didn't know where he ran off too. And Karin knew that made the older girl antsy. She knew that today, Rukia not only didn't know where her brother was, but she also didn't know why he was gone.

So the eleven-year-old, mature beyond her years, could only blindly assume that her troublesome older brother was up to that shinigami stuff again. And she gritted her teeth because the helplessness that always came with this subject was too great for her to overcome. Her brother was always quiet, though not always when it came to his temper, he kept his problems to himself as much as he could and no matter what…was _her_ protector.

Was there nothing the girl could do to help her brother now? Could there be a way to ease the rising burden he always carried on his shoulders?! Now, when even the one person who could somehow out do the sibling in providing aide and a kick to get him moving, now that one person herself was a sitting duck. Rukia didn't know…so then…what could the twin possibly do?!

She kicked the stones with full force and sent them soaring into an alley. That's when her desperate wishes were fulfilled. A streak of vivid orange flew out of the alley like a shot out of a canon. And its cry was menacing enough to cause the girl to scream.

"A TIGER!" Yuzu and Karin stopped dead in their tracks as the beast crouched in front of them, eyes narrowed into savage slits, and claws gleaming like sharpened knifes. A growl caught in its throat.

Karin stood protectively in front of her sister. _What the hell is a tiger doing loose in the middle of town?!_

* * *

…_**TBA…**_

_**So then what do ya think peeps?! R&R while I get some R&R! Yeah I know what ya'll are thinkin...WTHECK is with the tiger? I assure you, this ain't no ordinary tiger. And it does have an important purpose in this story...hence the title duh! :3**_


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